The Chief Minister of Sikkim, Pawan Chamling has surpassed Jyoti Basu to become the longest serving Chief Minister of India.
- Pawan Chamling became the chief minister of Sikkim on December 12, 1994, and has ruled the state ever since.
- His other two counterparts are Dr Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh (the longest-serving CM from the BJP) and Naveen Patnaik (Odisha’s longest-serving CM).
- Pawan Chamling is known as ‘Kiran’ and ‘Green Crusader’ who brought the primacy of Nature back to a land once ravaged by corruption.
About Pawan Chamling
- Pawan Chamling was born on 22nd September 1950.
- He is the fifth and incumbent Chief Minister of the northeastern state- Sikkim.
- He is the second chief minister in India after Jyoti Basu, of West Bengal to govern a state five terms in a row.
- Chamling’s party Sikkim Democratic Front won the 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 Sikkim Legislative Assembly elections.
- He started his political journey in 1973 as the founder president of the Sikkim Democratic Front, which has governed the state for five successive terms since 1994.
- Under Chamling’s leadership, Sikkim is one of the fastest growing states as its GDP has shown great improvement.
Growth of Sikkim under Pawan Chamling
- Sikkim is steadily moving towards being a 100 percent literate state. Its current literacy rate is 82 percent.
- Seventy percent of Sikkim’s budget goes to the rural sector.
- Today the state has 44 clean industries—all green—such as distilleries, pharma, hotels and more.
- Sikkim’s teacher-student ratio is the best in India—1:10 in primary and 1:21 in secondary schools.
